Textile carrier



June 17, 1969 w. s. HAWKINS TEXTILE CARRIER Sheet Filed May 24, 1967 INVENTOR WILLARD S. HAWKINS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,450,370 TEXTILE CARRIER Willard S. Hawkins, Hartsville, S.C., assignor to Sonoco Products Company, Hartsville, S.C., a corporation of South Carolina Filed May 24, 1967, Ser. No. 640,980 Int. Cl. B65h 75/08 US. Cl. 242118.3'2 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a textile carrier and more particularly to a plastic textile carrier having a Winding Surface for textile strand material.

One of the primary factors in the design of textile carriers such as tubes, cones and the like on which textile strand material such as yarn is wound is to provide a suitable yarn retentive or slip-resistant winding surface on the carrier so that the yarn wound on the carrier will not slip relative to the surface. This slipping of yarn relative to the carrier surface is highly objectionable as it creates many problems during both winding and unwinding of yarn the more troublesome of which occur during the unwinding or delivery of yarn from the carrier improper unwinding, produced by such yarn slippage, usually results in a break in the yarn, particularly in fine yarns, interrupting the unwinding process With attendant reduced production and higher operating costs.

The problem of yarn slippage on a textile carrier such as a cone or tube has been generally overcome by providing a suitable slip-resistant surface on the carrier such as by the grinding, flocking, etc., of the carrier winding surface. The use of synthetic polymeric material such as polypropylene, polyethylene and the like for textile carriers instead of paper with the inherent slippery nature of such plastic material has resulted in additional emphasis on the need of the proper yarn retentive winding surface on such plastic carriers. However, a variety of types of winding surfaces have been forthcoming which suitabl retain yarn on the carrier. However, while suitable yarn retentive carriers surfaces have been developed, there is always the problem of excessive yarn retention which inhibits the unwinding of the yarn from the carrier particularly during the unwinding of the final wraps of yarn from the carrier surface. This excessive friction or yarn retention increases the tension during yarn delivery with resultant yarn breakage and its attendant adverse effects. This problem of surfacing carriers for yarn retentive purposes is even further magnified as a result of the wide variety in size, type, and material which characterize material yarns in use today as each variety of yarn responds differently to some degree to a particular carrier winding surface.

Many surfaces for roughening carriers have been proposed in the past such as sand blasting, knurling, grooving flocking and the like, all of which have been successful to some degree in providing a suitable surface for yarn on a textile carrier. For instance, helical ribs and grooves have been provided on the winding surface of textile carriers such as those carriers shown in US. Patent No.

2,273,373, issued to E. L. Perry and in US Patent No. 3,034,743, issued to J. H. Hill. Although these winding surfaces have produced some measure of success in the winding and unwinding of yarns, they, in general, fall short of the desired reduction in yarn delivery tension. This yarn delivery tension problem is magnified even further in the case of plastic carriers as the need for overcoming the slippery nature of plastic requires additional roughening thereby adding to the tension in the yarn during delivery. In addition, the tendency of wound yarn to slip and/ or increase in tension during delivery is more prevalent when the carrier is of conical shape rather than tubular shape, the comically-shaped carrier being in wide-spread use today throughout the textile industry.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide a textile carrier having a new and novel winding surface for textile strand material.

Another object of this invention is to provide a textile carrier having a new and novel winding surface for textile strand material which not onl adequately retains strand material wound on the surface but facilitates the delivery of the wound yarn during unwinding with a minimum of tension.

A further object of this invention is to provide a textile carrier having a new and novel winding surface which permits the unwinding of a wide variety of yarns at a uniform, relatively low tension and which virtually eliminates any breakage of the yarn during such unwinding.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a textile cone of plastic material having a new and novel winding surface which may be molded integrally with the cone in a simple and easy manner and which is provided with a socket in the cone tip for snap-fitting receipt of a new and novel identification means.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings The objects stated above and other related objects of this invention are accomplished by the provision of a body which may be of conical shape having an external winding surface for supporting textile strand material such as yarn wound thereon. The winding surface is formed from synthetic resinous material from which the body is also preferably molded and a plurality of uniformly spaced, upstanding ribs are formed on the winding surface for retaining the wound textile strand material. These rib which are preferably in the form of a helix extending continuously throughout the winding surface. The ribs of the invention have a width of approximately 0.002 inch, a height of approximately 0.002 inch, and a spacing of approximately 0.03125 inch therebetween.

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and operation may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation view of a textile carrier constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along line 22 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a graph showing the tension of yarn during the final portion of an unwinding operation from the carrier of the invention from just before and up to run out;

FIGURE 5 is a graph similar to FIGURE 4 showing the tension of yarn during the final portion of an unwinding operation on a prior art carrier having a well-known type of widing surface; and

FIGURE 6 is a graph similar to FIGURE showing tension of yarn during the final portion of an unwinding operation on another prior art carrier having a wellknown type of winding surface.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a textile carrier, designated generally by the letter T, which is provided with an external winding surface designated generally by the numeral 11 and constructed in accordance with the invention. The textile carrier T is arranged to support a package of yarn (not shown) wound on the winding surface 11 and in the illustrated embodiment is of conical shape. However, it should be understood that the carrier of the invention may be of other well-known shapes such as tubular, etc. The textile carrier or cone T includes a conical body 12 which in the illustrated embodiment is suitably tapered so as to provide a sloping surface inclined from the vertical at an angle of approximately 330.

Although the external winding surface 11 on the body 12 only may be formed of plastic material, preferably the entire carrier body 12 is formed from synthetic resinous or polymeric material such as polypropylene, polyethylene, or the like, The plastic carrier 12 is preferably molded in any well-known manner in a one-piece construction. The conical body 12 includes a side Wall 13 defining an interior 14, a base 16 and a tip 17. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper end edge of the body wall 13 is curved radially inward at the tip 17 to form an annular edge portion 13a as shown best in FIGURE 2 which defines a socket 18. As will be explained hereinafter, the socket 18 is arranged to accommodate in snapfitting engagement yarn identification means designated generally by the numeral 19 in FIGURE 2.

As will be noted in FIGURE 1, the winding surface 11 terminates at each end in spaced relationship with the cone base 16 and the cone tip 17 respectively to provide smooth surfaced end portions 12a, 1212 on the cone external surface 12. Also, the end edge of the cone base 16 is preferably notched at 20 to receive and retain in the well known manner a portion of the textile strand material or yarn wound on the cone T.

As specifically illustrative of the invention, the winding surface 11 of the cone body 12 is formed by providing a plurality of uniformly spaced, upstanding ribs 21 on the winding surface 11 for retaining textile strand material against slipping and for permitting the take-off or delivery of such textile strand material or yarn therefrom during the unwinding operation without increasing the tension in the unwinding yarn. In the preferred embodiment, the ribs 21 are arranged in the form of a helix extending continuously throughout the winding surface 11. It should be understood, however, that although a single helically extending continuous rib 21 is shown in the illustrated embodiment, the ribs 21 may be in the form of a plurality of ribs 21 each extending circumferentially around the cone body 12.

Although the rib 21 may be formed in any suitable manner such as machining, grinding, etc., the molding of the textile carrier T from plastic material permits the ribs 21 to be formed integrally with the plastic body 12. By way of example, the interior surface of the mold in which the textile carrier T is formed may be suitably grooved so that the ribs 21 are formed simultaneously with the other portions of the textile carrier T.

To provide the new and unexpected results of the invention, relating to the tension in the yarn wound on the cone T and the retention of the yarn on the winding surface 11, the height, width and spacing of the ribs 21 are critical. It has been found that the unexpected results of the invention are accomplished only when the ribs 21 are approximately 0.002 inch in width, extend upwardly from the external surface of the body 12 approximately 0.002 inch, and are spaced apart approximately 0.03125 inch or at a pitch of A of an inch.

As has been previously explained, the socket 18 at the cone tip 17 accommodates an identification insert 19 which may be suitably marked or colored to identify the type of yarn which is wound on the textile carrier T. In the illustrated embodiment, the identification insert 19 includes a tubular skirt 24 having an outer radial enlargement 24a adjacent its lower end as shown in FIGURE 2. The skirt 24 is curved radially outward at its upper end to form an arcuate flange 26. Thus, when the insert 19 is inserted within the socket 18 as shown in FIGURE 2, the skirt enlargement 24a snaps over the lower end of the arcuate tip portion 13a and the insert flange 26 overlies the tip portion 13a to be readily visible to the eye and without interfering with the takeoff of yarn from the cone T.

In order to illustrate the novel results obtained with the carrier of the invention, the carrier T and two prior art plastic carriers wound with yarn were subjected to an unwinding operation and the tension on the yarn in grams measured during the unwinding of the last few hundred yards of yarn or through what is referred to as runout. The results obtained with the carrier T are shown in FIGURE 1 with the results obtained in the two prior art carriers shown in FIGURES 5, 6 the yarn delivery or drawoff tension being plotted in grams against the number of yards remaining on the carrier up to runout.

In these tension tests, a Sandborn 301 Carrier Amplifier/Recorder was employed in association with a transducer through which the unwound yarn, advancing in contact with the transducer, developed a signal corresponding to the yarn tension. The yarn wound on the carriers was 70/ 34/ lZS textured polyester yarn wound at a winding ratio of 2.5, and a winding tension of between 5 to 7 grams. As is well known, the designation 70/34/1ZS refers to 70 denier multi-filamentary yarn with 34 filaments and with one turn of Z twist and S twist per inch, The delivery or unwinding speed of the yarn was 300 yards per minute.

All of the carriers or cones tested including the cone T had a taper of 3 30 and a winding surface of approximately six inches in a direction parallel to the axis of the cones. The cone T, the test results of which are shown in FIGURE 4, was of molded polypropylene. The results obtained in FIGURE 5 were on a molded polyethylene cone which had a winding surface containing circumferentially extending ribs spaced approximately /2 inch apart. The results of FIGURE 6 were for a molded polypropylene cone, the winding surface of which was roughened by grinding with a No. 6 abrasive felt.

It can be seen that the tension in the yarn during delivery up to runout from the cone of FIGURE 4 remained at an average reading of approximately 1 gram with an expected, small and uniform amplitude variation throughout the last 160 yards of yarn delivered. It will be noted that there was no increase in yarn tension shortly before runout. In the cone of FIGURE 5, the tension increased substantially with considerable variation in the amplitude of the tension during the last 50 yards of yarn delivered. Similarly, in the cone of FIGURE 6, there was some minor increase in tension during the last yards or so of yarn delivered with a substantial and highly irregular increase in the yarn tension throughout the last 20 yards of yarn delivered.

While there has been described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is the aim of the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: References Cited 1. A textile carrier comprising a conically shaped body formed from synthetic resinous material and having an UNITED STATES PATENTS exterior winding surface, a plurality of uniformly spaced, 2,273,373 2/ 1942 Perry. upstanding circumferentially extending ribs on said wind- 5 2,668,020 2/ 1954 Dunlap 242-118.3 X ing surface formed integrally with said body, said ribs 3,034,743 5/ 1962 Hill 242-11832 having a width of approximately 0.002 inch, a height of 3,095,161 6/1963 Atwood et a1. 242-1183 X approximately 0.002 inch, and a spacing of approximately 0.03125 inch therebetween. GEORGE F. MAUTZ, Primary Examiner. 

